, LAWMAKERS WANT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY. >> MISSOURI HAS CREATED A SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, BASICALLY A CORONAVIRUS COMMITTE AND LEE’S SUMMIT STATE REP., DR. JON PATTERSON, IS -- LEADS IT. >> WE DO NOT HAVE ANY CONFIRMED CASES. WE DO NOW HAVE WAYS TO TEST FOR THE VIRUS IN MISSOURI WHICH WE , HAVE NOT HAD UP UNTUIL NOW. -- UP UNTIL NOW. >> THOSE TESTS CAN PROVIDE SAME-DAY RESULTS. 60 PEOPLE IN MISSOURI HAVE BEEN TESTED. NONE OF THEM CAME UP POSITIVE. MISSOURI’S HEALTH DIRECTOR, DR. RANDALL WILLIAMS SAYS THE RISK FOR INFECTION STILL REMAINS LOW. PATTERSON SAYS SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO TESTIFY TO HIS SPECIAL COMMITTEE ARE INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALISTS. >> AND THEY’RE GOING TO KIND OF RUN THROUGH WHAT WE NEED TO DO IF WE DO HAVE SOME CASES TO PROTECT THOSE PATIENTS AND ALSO THE POPULATION AT-LARGE. >> HE IS A SURGEON WHO THINKS THAT WILL ALLOW TO TRANSLATE WHEN THE EXPERTS DESCEND INTO MEDICAL JARDON. IN BOTH KANSAS AND MISSOURI ADVISORIES ARE GOING OUT TO , SCHOOLS ABOUT WATCHING FOR INCREASED ABSENTEEISM. KANSAS SCHOOL ARE BEING ADVISED NOT TO EMPASIZE PERFECT ATENDANCE OR PROMOTE REWARDS FOR IT. MISSOURI EDUCATORS ARE BEING TOLD THEY MIGHT HAVE TO HELP FAMILIES IN ISOLATION, IF IT COMES TO THAT, SO KIDS DON’T FALL BEHIND IN CLASS. PATTERSON AND THIS SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS WILL HAVE THEIR FIRST MEETING, MOND

A Lee's Summit surgeon, who's in the Missouri Legislature, is leading a special health committee tracking COVID-19, the new coronavirus.The committee will have its first meeting Monday."We do not have any confirmed cases. We do now have ways to test for the virus in Missouri, which we have not had up until now," said state Rep. Dr. Jon Patterson.Those tests can provide same-day results. Sixty people in Missouri have been tested. None of them came up positive.Missouri's health director, Dr. Randall Williams, said "The risk for infection still remains low."Patterson said some of the people who testify to his special committee are infectious disease specialists."And they're going to kind of run through what we need to do if we do have some cases to protect those patients and also the population at large," Patterson said.He said he will be able to translate when the experts descend into medical jargon. In Kansas and Missouri, advisories are going out to schools about watching for increased absenteeism. Kansas schools are being advised not to emphasize perfect attendance or promote rewards for it. Missouri educators are being told they might have to help families in isolation, if it comes to that, so kids don't fall behind in class.

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. —

A Lee's Summit surgeon, who's in the Missouri Legislature, is leading a special health committee tracking COVID-19, the new coronavirus.

Patterson said some of the people who testify to his special committee are infectious disease specialists.

"And they're going to kind of run through what we need to do if we do have some cases to protect those patients and also the population at large," Patterson said.

He said he will be able to translate when the experts descend into medical jargon.

In Kansas and Missouri, advisories are going out to schools about watching for increased absenteeism. Kansas schools are being advised not to emphasize perfect attendance or promote rewards for it. Missouri educators are being told they might have to help families in isolation, if it comes to that, so kids don't fall behind in class.